Ava snatched the ruler from Frank. Afraid of hurting her, he gave it to her directly.
Nona begged for mercy on her brother's behalf. "Daddy, I'll check Cyril's homework in the future. I will make sure that he completes his homework every day."
Seeing that his sister was begging for mercy, Cyril suddenly admitted his mistake. "I was wrong. There won't be a next time."
Grace was enraged as she said, "If you had admitted your mistake earlier, you wouldn't have suffered so much. Learn from Nona in the future."
Grace was also angry this time. She knew that her grandson would ruin himself if this continued, so it was not too late to correct him.
Frank stared at his son with his hands on his hips. He was so angry that he almost vomited blood. He did not expect to be angered by his son to the point of almost having a heart attack one day. He exhaled and said, "Firstly, from today onwards, your phone will be confiscated. Secondly, your homework must be checked by Nona before you can sleep. If it's too late, bring it over for me to check. Thirdly, you're grounded. You are not allowed to attend any gatherings. You'll be released when you score at least 1200 points."
1200?
He had spent a lot of effort to get 650 points. His father was not being realistic.
"Dad, do you have any misunderstandings about my results? I can agree to your first few conditions, but you set the target too casually. Also, would you even understand if I let you check my homework?" Cyril muttered the last sentence very softly.
Just as Frank was about to flare up again, Ava hurriedly held Frank's hand tightly and rubbed his palm. Frank's tone softened a little. "1200 points is not negotiable. My results are more than enough to check your homework. If you have the time to worry about me, you might as well spend more time thinking about how to improve your results."
Frank knew that his son could get in. His computer skills were perfect, so there was no way he was stupid.
William urged, "Alright, it's settled then. Listen to your father. Your father has also thought about this target carefully. 1200 it is. Cyril, I think highly of you as well. Go up and finish yesterday's homework. Nona, go and help your brother check his homework today. If he doesn't know how to do it, teach him."
Nona agreed and said softly, "Okay, Grandpa. Let's go, Cyril."
She pushed her brother upstairs. Cyril held his butt and struggled to walk upstairs. Nona wanted to help him, but he refused.
Upstairs.
Cyril slowly sat down. He only sat on half of his butt, while the other half was raised. He did not dare to sit down fully. He used his hand to support himself. Nona felt a little pitiful. She helped her brother take out his homework and spread it out on the table. She then stuffed the pen into her brother's hand and looked at the blank papers. "Cyril, hurry up. There are quite a few papers."
Cyril picked up the pen and cursed, "Damn you, Harper. Of all things, why did you invent grounding? You're going to kill me. Uncle is too strict. Why did he ground you?"
"Hurry up, Cyril. It's getting late."
"Nona, why don't you let me copy your paper? Copying is faster than teaching. That way, you can sleep earlier too."
Nona felt that her brother was itching to be beaten again and rejected him sternly. "No, do it yourself. You just have to do it until dawn. Daddy will accompany you after I fall asleep."
Cyril looked at his sister's determined gaze and sighed. "Sigh, there's so much to do. We have already finished nine years of compulsory education. So why do we still continue to twelve years of education? Studying is too troublesome."
"It'll be a lot faster if you spend your time doing homework instead of talking."
With his sister watching him, Cyril had no choice but to lower his head and do his homework seriously. Nona sat at the side and looked at him methodically. If there was anything wrong, she would point it out directly in case she missed it later. When her brother did something, she would check it too.
Downstairs.
The entire family was discussing how to save Cyril. Upstairs, Cyril was thinking about how to come up with countermeasures. He was thinking as he did the questions.
Grace glanced at the other three and gave her opinion. "Don't let Harper and Cyril stick together when they're in school. Nothing good will happen if these two children stick together. They're either planning to copy others' homework or thinking of shortcuts."
William nodded in agreement. "Grace is right. It's not that Harper isn't good. It's mainly because Harper is not hardworking at all. He feels that he doesn't have to work hard since he still has three younger brothers behind him and he is pretty smart. Cyril was a little naughty when he was in primary school, but he was very quiet. Now, he gives a lot of excuses and his temper is like Frank's. There's no way around this. He inherited it."
Frank was at a loss for words.
Grace continued, "Edward has already implemented the plan for Harper. The main reason why Harper's results can be improved is because of his attitude."
Ava said, "I agree with Mom. Harper is grounded now so we'll ground Cyril too. We should be able to change Cyril back."
Frank made a rule. "Since it's been decided, no one is to go back on their words. Cheating will not happen with me around."
William was speechless. He thought that Frank might as well have called him out.
Grace also turned to look at William. In terms of education, Grace stood on her son's side. Ava lowered her head. She was also involved in the cheating.
A few seconds later, seeing that no one said anything, Grace made the final decision. "This matter is settled then. We'll listen to Frank's arrangements."
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